Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete?
The John Templeton Foundation, as part of their Supporting Science – Investing in the Big Questions explorations, hosted this question as the third in their series of conversations among leading scientists and scholars. The archive for other hosted questions is here, and currently includes these:
Does the universe have a purpose?
Will money solve Africa’s development problems?
Does the free market corrode moral character?
Here is a sampling of the initial responses to the question, Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete?:
Yes, if by… — Steven Pinker
No, and yes. — Chistoph Cardinal Schonoborn
Absolutely not! — William D. Phillips
Not necessarily. — Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy
Of course not. — Mary Midgley
No. — Robert Sapolsky
No, but it should. — Christopher Hitchens
No. — Keith Ward
Yes. — Victor J. Stenger
No, not at all. — Jerome Groopman
It depends. — Michael Shermer
Of course not. — Kenneth R. Miller
No, but only if… — Stuart Kauffman
You can download pdfs, view debates, and request a copy of the booklet, Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete?.
I have intended to post this link for some time; the current timing is prompted by the recent AP, March 9, 2009 story, More Americans Say They Have No Religion
Also, the post on this blog, Albert Einstein and God: A Scientist and His Worldview, continues to receive numerous hits and I wanted to make this resource available to interested parties.
Our worldviews are the glasses through which we perceive both who we are, and possible solutions to our challenges, and so a literacy in worldview thinking is critical to our wild resiliency.
The Institute of Noetic Sciences is forging into this territory and you can read of their efforts here, as well as access videos on our transforming worldviews: Developing Worldview Literacy
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